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 Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:50 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:17 pm
“It’s lovely bobbing along, bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briiiiiiiiiiny sea; what a chance to get a better peek at the plants, and creatures of the deep it’s graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.”
The singing was filled with spirit and verve, and the singer was obviously enjoying his song. However, it would be a bald-faced lie to say that the singing was good, or even passable; the melody was cracked, the voice off-key, and the whole presentation was enough to make even the most charitable of listeners wince. For her own part, Myrtle had never considered herself to be among ‘the most charitable’ of anythings, and she looked over at the singer with a pained expression on her wrinkled face. “Bastian, do you have to keep that warbling up? I’m trying to relax, and it’s hard to do that with you piercing my eardrums.” As if to demonstrate her pain, the turtle raised one flipper to gently massage the side of her head, shooting a reproachful look at the singer as she did so. “Haven’t we both suffered enough for one day?”
A short distance away, Bastian broke off in mid-sentence to shoot the turtle his best sad face. “Geez, you really don’t believe in sugar coating things to spare my feelings, do you Myrt? I know it’s hardly nightingale singing, but I really don’t think I’m as bad as you let on. Besides, what’s the point in being out at the beach if we’re not going to whoop it up?” As if to prove his point, Bastian suddenly burst up and out of the water, the bright midday sun glinting off of his golden horns and leg spikes before he just as rapidly dove back into the water, his brightly colored tail flicking a splash of water back Myrtle’s direction as he submerged.
Being a sea turtle, Myrtle was nonplussed by the splash and merely ducked under water herself to avoid the worst of the spray. Honestly, Bastian could be quite the child when he wanted to be!
At that moment, he burst back up to the surface, throwing his head back and shaking off the water with dramatic zeal and a big grin for Myrtle. “It’s a great day to be alive, isn’t it Myrt? I personally think it would be nice to celebrate that fact with a suitable song, but since you’re feeling so persnickety, I guess we can pass the time in conversation instead. Conversation or frolic. Seriously, isn’t this place just the greatest?” Beaming, he threw himself backwards in the water, ending up on his back in the water with his legs above his head. It was an incongruous sight, and Myrtle couldn’t hold back her chuckle. Hearing her amusement, Bastian flipped back around to grin at her, sending another spray of water her way.
It was certainly true that it was a nice day, and that this sort of day had been a long time coming. It had been a while since they’d allowed themselves to just relax and play on the beach; they were usually on the move, and had to make due with streams or ponds for their necessary ablutions.
Bastian didn’t doubt they made a strange sight. He’d never seen anyone who looked like him, and that was a fact. His mother had been a water Ulun'suti, one of those small and magically gifted creatures of legend. His father had been a kelpi who had intrigued and beguiled his mother; some time later Bastian had been born, but not before his parents had realized that in spite of their mutual water-loving ways, they were simply not suited to each other. Bastian had his mother’s draconic horns and leg spikes, as well as her small stature, but he also had his father’s fins, powerful tail, and ability to exist for long periods of time underwater. From his mother, he had inherited a love of adventure, and from his father, a need to be near water.
The end result? A stallion who loved to seek out and swim in new and different bodies of water!
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:45 pm
Bastian had found Myrtle while enjoying a late night swim. The turtle had never seen anything like him before, and with her usual directness and lack of fear, she had simply swum up to the stallion and asked him what he was. He had been amused at her lack of shame in her curiosity, and the two of them had gotten to talking. By the end of their conversation, Bastian had decided she was an entertaining little thing, and he wouldn't mind more of her company.
This had posed a quandary, of course. Bastian himself couldn't afford to be too far from water for long, but he could manage out of it. Myrtle was a true sea turtle, and as such she could only flounder on dry land. Leaving her behind would be a tragedy, so Bastian had bent himself to the task of figuring out a solution. He had been rather proud of the results; using thick, touch kelp and water grasses, he had managed to make up a bag with modest waterproofing; dunking it in the sea, it would fill with water and keep the water for hours. It was a bit bulky to carry, but Myrtle could ride in soggy comfort.
The end result was that Bastian was able to bring Myrtle with him in his travels, to have a conversational companion and appreciator of his fine musical stylings.
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 10:20 am
The trials of land travel aside, Bastian and Myrtle each felt they were well suited to partnership. Water was their passion as well as their home environment, so they each had a draw to it. In addition, Bastian was blessed with one of the special powers of the 'Suti; in his case, he could summon a (very small) pool of water from time to time. Use of this power tended to leave him exhausted, but it meant that Myrtle could enjoy water if they found themselves on dry land for longer than was safe. And it didn't hurt that Bastian himself could get a drink at the same time!
~~~
Settling down had occurred to Bastian at one point or another, but that idea had always been ruled out upon further thought. Settling down meant security and comfort; it was cozy, and safe. It was what he'd never had as a child, and having it now, or at any point, seemed wonderful.
But then further thought reminded him of the negatives: Tedium, boredom; confined to one place, or one female. Settling down meant dealing with harsh realities, rather than just cutting and running when things got boring. It meant having to be responsible rather than carefree. It sounded incredibly depressing, and he could completely understand why his parents had decided against that lifestyle, even assuming they had compatible enough temperaments to make it work.
No, it was better this way.
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:33 am
They weren't up to anything in particular today, just two friends chilling out and enjoying each other's company. Bastian and Myrtle were alike in that water of any sort was bliss to them, but they took particular joy in massive bodies of water where they could swim around until they were tired. The great inland lake was a favorite, but the sea was their darling. Myrtle could manage in both fresh water and salt water, but the salt was her home and her most comfortable environment. In the sea, they had all the room they could possibly want, and a host of possibilities to see and explore.
They'd been at the beach for days, and had yet to feel any signs of boredom. It was just one lovely day after another, swimming, sunning, and splashing. This was the life!
With deft strokes of her flippers, Myrtle swam laps in a circle around Bastian. Though her mild leathery face had issues displaying any strong emotion, there was a warm smile in place nonetheless. After all, Bastian had stopped singing; that was a win! "See, I told you you were disturbing the peace, Bastian. It's much nicer this way, where we can enjoy the waves and the birds.
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Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 6:40 pm
Bastian snorted, shooting forth little ripples in the waves that shot out towards Myrtle. He would make some sort of appropriately snarky comment, but at the moment he was completely submerged, other than his eyes, nose, and the horns on the top of his head. He wasn't going to give Myrtle the satisfaction of being right, but he had to admit there was something nicely peaceful about just swimming around and enjoying the low murmurs of the waves and the call of sea birds.
That, and the 'I told you so' of a sea turtle.
Poking his head up and out of the water, he shot a stream of water through his teeth towards Myrtle, who neatly dodged it. "I get it, I get it; you don't appreciate the sounds of my musical stylings, and you think I should just sit back and enjoy the sounds of the ocean. But you're talking, so what am I supposed to to make of that?"
Chuckling, Myrtle cast another splash of water back in Bastian's direction. "Are you disputing the fact I'm a sea creature, Bastian? I think my voice counts as a sound of the sea." That comment merely provoked another snort from Bastian, who responded with a mock-grumpy "And what does that make me, a chopped eel?"
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 5:08 pm
"Oh, you wish you had the grace to be a chopped eel, Bastian; we both know that you're a galumphing land creature, no matter how much you might pretend otherwise." Myrtle said this with no spite, no malice, and no hint of teasing, except for the glimmer in her dark eyes. This was a favorite back and forth of theirs, what it was that Bastian actually counted as. Depending on their moods, he could pass for either or; there was certainly arguments to be made in either direction.
However, even Bastian had to admit that the scales were a bit more heavily weighted towards land than sea. He might have his powerful finned tail, but he also had four legs that ended in hooves. In spite of a life spent in and around water, he lacked the flippers that made sea travel effortless for Myrtle and all of her ilk, a fact that, from time to time, could rankle Bastian to no end.
That said, when the wandering itch struck Bastian, he was more than glad to have his legs. He didn't want to spend his life restricted to one medium, and he enjoyed having the chance to get some variety in his life. Though at the end of the day, what he really wanted was a switch: up, it was legs; down, it was fins!
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 5:15 pm
At the moment, Bastian would be pleased to have fins, but he could make do with his legs. The sea was calm, so it was no hardship to tread against the waves, keeping himself steady with his finned tail. From time to time, he would dive back under, his hairless head and angled horns making his dives easy and streamlined. He might be a weird looking creature to the average land dweller, but every little bit helped when it came to making the most of the sea!
"How do you think I'd look with flippers, Myrt?" He asked suddenly, resurfacing and casting his tail wide against the water. "Seriously, like...flippers. Instead of the hooves."
Squinting, Myrtle peered over at her friend. "Are we talking flippers like I have, where you would still have four limbs? Or are we talking flippers like those mers, wher you don't have back legs at all? Either way, I think you'd be a bit...well, lopsided, don't you think? With all the stuff you have going on on top, the horns and the fins and whatnot, flippers seem like they'd be too much."
Bastian made a face at that. As far as he was concerned, he was enough as he was; the last thing he needed was to be 'too much.'
Whatever that meant.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:47 am
At Bastian's weird face, Myrtle chuckled and waggled one of her own flippers at him. "Come on, don't be like that. We both know we're just having this hypothetical conversation because you're bored, anyway; you love your legs. You love being able to walk around on dry land, to be able to seek out new and different water sources. So there's no sense in pouting because I think you'd look weird with flippers."
And there she'd tapped it again, right on the nose. Bastian's expression shifted from general petulance to general amusement. He'd always loved Myrtle's ability to get to the heart of the matter; since he himself was highly skilled at dancing around the point, it was great for him to have an analytical companion. He could have mercurial moods, so it was nice to have someone to ground him, to point out the logic (or lack thereoff) in whatever was getting to Bastian.
And it was true; he loved his legs. He'd met several mers on his travels, almost entirely in the ocean; they were amazingly good at swimming, but they were pretty much stuck in whatever body of water they were born in. He didn't know if they were even capable of surviving on land; they might be able to drag themselves along, he supposed, but that had to be very uncomfortable, not to mention slow. Assuming they could survive out of the water, they would be extremely vulnerable to any sort of attack.
It was true, they had a lot of variety to enjoy; particularly the ones that lived in the ocean. Bastian himself was a good swimmer, and could hold his breath long enough to get a good look around under the water; long enough to see that the undersea world was varied and beautiful. But their society seemed limited to other mers and the occasional kelpi, whereas land walkers could pretty much meet and socialize with anyone. He could enjoy water in almost all of its forms; from the spacious ocean to the great inland lake, to small duck ponds, rivers, and streams. Water was water, and it was all open and accessible to him.
So he was quick to concede to Myrtle's point; not that had truly been upset, of course; it had more been a reaction to her comment that he would look 'off'. He had never been sensitive to his appearance; he was so unique that it was pointless to try and compare himself to anyone else. But that didn't mean he liked being referred to as 'off', thanks very much! "Yeah, I know Myrtle. Given the choice, I'd rather have legs myself, but still; don't you think it would be nice to try something different once in a while? Not on a permanent basis, but just as a temporary change up. Sorta the same way we change up where we are, and what we're eating." Well, mostly. Myrtle was pretty fixed in what she liked to eat, no matter where they were.
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Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:05 am
The hypothetical question game was a favorite of Bastian and Myrtle's, so she was ready when he launched in with the latest question. "I've often thought it would be interesting to have wings. I know it would be a weird look, but it would be nice to see the world from a different angle, yes." She even maintained a straight, thoughtful face while she was speaking, proof that was taking the game seriously. Bastian couldn't help but return her serious face with a beaming grin; he and Myrtle had been together for a long time, but he had yet to grow bored with her facial expressions. Turtles were just so entertaining!
Entertaining, and awesome. He knew that a lot of Soquili would never consider having a sea turtle as a familiar; it was impractical for most land dwellers, and even kelpi would have an issue. Their arrangement worked for Bastian and Myrtle because of his Suti half; yet another reason he was happy to be a mongrel. What would their life together be if he couldn't summon water in a pinch? Either they would be limited to just one place, or Myrtle could potentially die. Neither was an option that Bastian relished, so he was glad he didn't have to. It was too much fun have these joint swims and 'what-if' conversations.
The idea of Myrtle with a pair of wings, whether leathery or feathery, was an amusing image. Visualizing it, his grin only widened. "So, with these hypothetical wings, would they be an additional set of limbs growing out of your shell somewhere, or would they replace your front legs? Heck, would they replace your back legs? Maybe you had wings instead of flippers all the way around?" This was why he loved this game; it was a chance to let the imagination run wild! Cocking his head to one side, he began a slow swim around Myrtle, considering her purple shelled body with different limbs. "It's a weird thought, you with other limbs. Heck, even seeing you with legs would be strange, I'm so used to seeing you with the flippers."
Myrtle did her best version of a shrug. "Honestly? I think I'd like to go with the backwings version. I realize a turtle with wings is an oddity to begin with, but how would the flipper wings work with my shell? I think they'd be in danger of being bent or crushed when I tried to pull them in, and I'd have to pull them in." Bastian nodded his head in agreement with that; he wasn't that familiar with how wings worked, but it seemed like they needed to be able to fold, not collapse. And collapse is just what they'd need to do to fit into her shell, collapse, if not literally break down. "I think you'd need some new holes in your shell if you're going to pull off back wings, though."
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